“Hamilton”'s Phillipa Soo Says Her Favorite Memories Happened Backstage as Show Celebrates 10th Anniversary (Exclusive)

Phillipa Soo understands the power of performing.

From her early years singing to her Tony-nominated role in Broadway’s Hamilton, the actress, 34, tells PEOPLE that some of her most joyful moments have stemmed from being on a stage.

In fact, those early childhood experiences performing inspired her to write her 2024 bestselling children’s book Piper Chen Sings, which follows a young girl with a passion for music as she overcomes her stage fright.

“This character that we created is very much inspired by a younger version of myself,” says Soo, who is partnering with Crayola for the brand's Creativity Week event from from Jan. 27 through Feb. 2. “I had terrible stage fright as a kid, yet it gave me so much joy to sing, and perform, and dance. And eventually, that led to acting.”

“The moment that I was able to really be brave in those moments, and step out and conquer my fears, I found such joy in being creative and having an artist's life,” she continues, reflecting on how she overcame her own stage fright as a child. “And that certainly was just the beginning of a long life, and I'm happy to say, a long career of getting to be a creative person and have a creative life.”

Her long career of leading a creative life includes many notable roles to her name, including Amélie Poulain in Broadway’s Amélie, Avery Morgan on Doctor Odyssey and, of course, Eliza Schuyler Hamilton in the Tony-winning Hamilton.

Related: The Cast of Hamilton: Where Are They Now?

Reflecting on Hamilton's milestone 10th anniversary on Jan. 20, Soo notes that some of her favorite memories from the production were simply being in the moment with the cast, which included creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr., Renée Elise Goldsberry, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Daveed Diggs, Christopher Jackson, Anthony Ramos, Okieriete Onaodowan and Jonathan Groff.

“Truly some of my fondest memories were just the creation of it, the rehearsal process,” she tells PEOPLE exclusively. “Really getting to hear and absorb that material for the first time just sticks in my heart as being such a significant moment for me, and as a young artist, just discovering things for the first time about what I wanted to do, and what I wanted to make, and the things that excited me. It was such a big feeling at that age.”

“Anything that happened backstage, those personal moments that you get to have ... if you were a theater kid in high school, you know, the hang is just the best part,” she adds. “It doesn't matter where you are. You could be doing community theater, you could be doing high school theater, you could be doing professional theater anywhere in the world, there is something innately beautiful about a group of people coming from all different walks of life, coming together and trying to create something that is bigger than themselves, that camaraderie that you immediately find. When it's good, it's so good. I think back to those moments backstage, and it just is a reminder that the collaboration for me, among the art, and what we're saying and what we're making, the rooms that you get to be in are some of the best parts of this job. And I'm so grateful.”

While Hamilton was a groundbreaking musical when it premiered, it has continued to captivate audiences long after its premiere at The Public Theater in 2015. For Soo, she believes the magic comes from the audience witnessing the stories of real people from history.

“For me, what felt so important about being a part of that piece of theater was this idea that I got to be connected to a real person, a real woman who lived a life, who had struggles and joys, who really overcame so much in her lifetime,” she says of playing Alexander Hamilton’s wife Eliza. “To get to feel connected to her, the emotional impact was just so great for me personally. And I definitely think that when we were performing, that was sort of my mantra and my hope, that that feeling that I had, getting to step into this time and into Eliza's shoes, was a feeling that would translate to our audiences.”

Related: 10 Historical Easter Eggs from Hamilton You Might Have Missed

As Crayola Creativity Week inspires young children to tap into their creative sides, she notes that Hamilton inspired audiences in a similar way.

“In the spirit of creativity and innovation, I think that it was something that no one had ever seen before,” she says of the musical. “With something like the Crayola Creativity Week, to hone in on being able to throw ideas out into the world and see how they land, [that] is such a beautiful practice that I think we can really start early on. So that maybe, yeah, we could end up with a Hamilton, but a Hamilton starts as an idea. A pen to paper, a dream, a vision, an image in somebody's mind. It really just starts with that. So if we can nourish our ability to put things out into the world that come to us and inspire us, I think that we should do more of that if we can.”

Looking back on the show’s milestone anniversary, Soo admits it’s been “incredible” to look back at her younger self as she revisits old photos and audition tapes. “I find myself having a conversation with my younger self,” she explains. “And some things have changed and some things have not changed.”

“I'm finding myself being more curious now than I was when I was first starting out and in this wonderful show called Hamilton that I didn't know was going to be changing my life forever. I'm finding myself just being more curious, asking more questions, wanting to put more things out there more than ever before,” she adds. “I'm really interested in doing things that might scare me or things that might be out of my realm of comfort zone."

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